<p>DD refused to attend UF (in part) because the lovely ponds on campus with live alligators in them - as in, unfenced ponds, with little signs, "beware of alligators" where the alligators could just casually crawl out and eat you up! There were other academic and social factors involved, but that was one reason she turned down the free-ride...</p>
<p>The main reason my son refused to apply to schools was because people at the information sessions were "weird" or "pretentious". How he could sense that people fell into these two categories, just by seeing them sit silently on chairs listening to the speaker, I don't know. </p>
<p>When I was reading him exerpts from this thread he laughed but also thought MOST of the reasons were perfectly reasonable and logical.</p>
<p>Of all these I loved "Taco Bell" architecture! </p>
<p>However, my favorite admissions story about my son was that he really scorned a certain prestigious school as the "community college of the Ivies". Then he got rejected there!! The irony was so hilarious. We still tease him about being rejected at a 'community college!'
He thinks it is even funnier than we do-->and he will NEVER live it down, we have looooong memories. The bigger they (think) they are the harder they fall!</p>
<p>JHS: Thx for the clarification...those kind of sculptures are a bit more interesting. </p>
<p>GA2012Mom: No, not UGA. I forget exactly what and where but every college tour seems to have some superstition like that..there is a stone slab you are not supposed to step on in Georgetown, some gates you don't pass through at Princeton/Brown, etc.</p>
<p>Oh, and to any would-be tour guides reading this: EVERY college library can get you ANY book through some kind of inter-library-loan service if they don't carry it. That does not make your college unique.</p>
<p>Now back to the original topic...</p>
<p>
[quote]
DD refused to attend UF (in part) because the lovely ponds on campus with live alligators in them - as in, unfenced ponds, with little signs, "beware of alligators" where the alligators could just casually crawl out and eat you up!
[/quote]
</p>
<p>The ones at Lake Alice are especially huge. What they don't tell you on the UF tour is that Lake Wauburg, the official recreation lake for swimming, sailing, canoeing, etc. for UF faculty, staff, and students, is FILLED with alligators. Yes, the swimming area has alligators swimming all around it. You should hear the bull gators bellowing at Lake Alice around breeding time. Despite that, I think I'm more afraid of the squirrels at Michigan.</p>
<p>i love the "skidmore" one... the name is a little... messy...</p>
<p>My twins sons refused to go to the same college despite my pleading. One changed his top pick when his brother got a great scholarship offer there and accepted it. </p>
<p>Sigh They are so very independent and wanted time away from each other. They both went out of state to where neither one knew a soul :) </p>
<p>(of course they have the same major LOL)</p>
<p>I had suggested University of Wisconsin to S because they are well-known for the major he was interested in. Answer? "I refuse to go to college in a state where people wear cheese on their heads."</p>
<p>Wow - after reading this thread, I don't think I will ever complain about my son again.</p>
<p>..."D2 rejected York College in PA because of the "awful" smell in the air during the tour. Tour guide told us there was a paper plant nearby; when the wind conditions were right, you would smell that. "But don't worry, you get used to it!" Needless to say, no application was sent to York..."</p>
<p>HAHA wow does that bring back memories...born and raised in York and know that smell well....just imagine smelling a rotten sauerkraut smell...you didn't smell it every day...it depended on which way the wind was blowing...and that is about 15 miles away.</p>
<p>I love this thread!</p>
<p>smell is in the nose of the beholder: my grandparents lived in a town with a pulp mill and that smell always reminds me of my dear grandma and her delicious cooking, comfy down beds and endless patience for our whims. They're gone now, but I whenever I'm in a town with a pulp mill I call my sister and say, "This place smells like grandma's house!"</p>
<p>D1 had a "middle of campus" test. If she could stand in the center of the "quad" or other locus of campus and see ugly buildings, the college was dropped from the list. Some schools have pretty good webcams, so we did some previewing that way....</p>
<p>"How about Purdue? It is excellent in engineering."</p>
<p>"No! It is named after a chicken." (Frank Perdue)</p>
<p>great thread. </p>
<p>Current S (guitarist) was down to the wire on Berklee (in Boston) and USC. On his original pro/con list, he had "earthquakes" under USC. (yes, that was a con).</p>
<p>Next one (D) is just starting and says Brown and Cornell have ugly names. She also is an athlete and plays outdoors and refuses to look anywhere south of PA because she hates the heat, loves the cold, preferably rainy and as miserable as possible. Fun for the spectators too.</p>
<p>Re: the squirrels -- our french exchange students last year loved a lot of things about America but pretty much unanimously they were fascinated by the squirrels, which apparently they do not have in France! Many photos of squirrels.</p>
<p>I'll never forget sitting in a diner in the middle of NY state on my way to Cornell for freshman year (maybe that's why D doesn't like it, but I digress)..... excited, anticipating my college experience and independence, and boys..... and as my parents and I waited for our lunch an, ummm, lets just say unattractive boy (think many pimples, liked his sundaes, still maybe had braces) walked by with a big grin and a huge red CORNELL across his t-shirt. I lost my appetite. Really wondering why I didn't choose [insert any of my other choices here]. My parents laughed about it for years.</p>
<p>^^I think your exchange students must have been total indoor kids. They have plenty of squirrels in France: Red</a> squirrel - wildlife of France</p>
<p>Oh VicariousParent, you've hit my pet peeve! I am a librarian and work at a University and just about choke every time we get to the library on a tour: "we have xxx,xxx volumes but don't worry we actually have access to millions more because our library has a special reciprocal agreement with (fill in the blank) so we can have any book for you within 3 days." Well, duh. Your local library can do that for you too and you don't even have to be a student. I was in charge of interlibrary loan at a tiny public library back in the early 90's and I was doing that for patrons back then.</p>
<p>But other parents always look impressed :)</p>
<p>Well now that you mention it, it was the typical grey squirrel that seemed so interesting to them.</p>
<p>Those Michigan squirrels had orangy-reddish tinges - not like the birdseed fed totally gray with browns and whites ones in my backyard. I wish the TV channels would do shows on wildlife common to the US and show its variation (squirrel nests can be very high up in tall trees).</p>
<p>RobD and Vicarious, you have touched a nerve. I don't want to hijack this thread (maybe the topic deserves a new one) but I'd venture to say, fewer and fewer kids do or don't look at a college anymore based on the quality of the library.</p>
<p>Back in the day (30+ years ago), this was a rather important issue. My alma mater had a large library system with many millions of volumes, a couple of main buildings, and an associated graduate department of Library Science. I distinctly remember one kid saying, when we were talking about why we chose this school, that it was the main library that sold him.</p>
<p>The colleges we visited in the past year would be in most people's top 25, 50, or 100, with possibly 1 exception. All but the 1 were more or less well endowed private institutions. But on most of the tours, the library seemed almost like an afterthought. No pride and joy in showing off rare book collections, no bragging about the number of volumes, not even any wide-eyed sales pitches about new information technology. </p>
<p>I'd say we'd hear more discussion about the bathrooms than about the libraries, and quite a bit more about the food service. Try asking if they have "open stacks". Chances are the guide will think you mean some kind of club sandwich or a topless bar.</p>
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<p>Depending on which way the wind is blowing & where you are on campus, D1 said you could always smell cow manure at UCONN. That might be a turnoff to some kids.</p>
<p>I don't think they have chipmunks in Europe. I remember having European visitors who were totally enraptured with chipmunks. Why not? They're cute cute cute and the name chipmunk is also the cutest name ever.</p>